V.R. 1819–1901 a Reverie
MOMENTS the mightiest pass uncalendared,And when the AbsoluteIn backward Time outgave the deedful wordWhereby all life is stirred:“Let one be born and throned whose mould shall constituteThe norm of every royal-reckoned attribute,”No mortal knew or heard.But in due days the purposed Life outshone—Serene, sagacious, free;—Her waxing seasons bloomed with deeds well done,And the world’s heart was won . . .Yet may the deed of hers most bright in eyes to beLie hid from ours—as in the All-One’s thought lay she—Till ripening years have run.
Words in this poem
- deedful a.
- Full of deeds or exploits; active; stirring.
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
V.R. 1819–1901 a Reverie is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of the Past and the Present, Project Gutenberg ebook #3168; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hardy, V.R. 1819–1901 a Reverie, in Poems of the Past and the Present (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3168, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-past-and-present/v-r-1819-1901-a-reverie.html, id L16853.
Form and metre
V.R. 1819–1901 a Reverie is 14 lines in a single stanza. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter. 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -ABBAAB-CDDCCD uncalendared · absoluteA · wordB · stirredB · constituteA · attributeA · heardB · outshone · freeC · doneD · wonD · beC · sheC · runD
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| MOMENTS the mightiest pass uncalendared, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| And when the Absolute | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In backward Time outgave the deedful word | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Whereby all life is stirred: | 7 | ······˘ |
| “Let one be born and throned whose mould shall constitute | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| The norm of every royal-reckoned attribute,” | 12 | ···/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| No mortal knew or heard. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But in due days the purposed Life outshone— | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Serene, sagacious, free; | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| —Her waxing seasons bloomed with deeds well done, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And the world’s heart was won . . . | 6 | ······ |
| Yet may the deed of hers most bright in eyes to be | 12 | ············ |
| Lie hid from ours—as in the All-One’s thought lay she— | 12 | ···/········ |
| Till ripening years have run. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.